The Alpha's Temptation

Lord Krail stiffened at Tania's response. "I don't care what you say or you don't! I am only interested in the wellbeing of my daughter." He pointed at her and growled, "You are her past and so is Biham. I know that it is important for you to take Kinshra's help, but that's where it ends. You can go and tell your father that Kinshra will not accompany him back to Pegasii. She has moved on and that she will not be a subject of humiliation anymore!"

Tania clenched her jaws. Anger blasted in her chest. Very stubbornly, she lifted her chin and snapped, "Why don't you go and tell him that? I am not your messenger!"

Kinshra winced at Tania's outburst.

Lord Krail was taken aback. The girl was as stubborn as he was and just as snappy. He stared at her for a moment. He had never received this kind of a reply from anyone. Everyone was pretty afraid of him and those were the qualities he had inherited from his family. Clearly, Tania was his grandchild. She gave it back to him and that too with a resounding verbal slap. He should have been extremely angry with her, but he was... proud. Angered also. The two emotions warred inside him. Not sure of himself, he rose to his feet quickly. "I suggest that you learn Yunabi and go back to Araniea. That's where you belong."

"I will stay here for as long as I want!" Tania replied with firmness. "And if you can't deal with me--" she crossed her arms across her chest and relaxed back in her chair. "--you can choose not to see my face." She flicked her hair back as if saying, 'you can go to hell'.

Lord Krail's chest rumbled with a ferocious growl. Kinshra appeared like she had seen a ghost. Her father was so fearsome and cold that no one dared to speak back to him and yet here was her daughter.

Lord Krail started to leave. He said, "Only Biham's child can be as impertinent as you!"

"Oh!" Tania was on the roll. "I believe I got some genes from my mother's side too!"

"Lusitania!" Lord Krail almost roared. "You do not show disobedience to me!"

Tania got up from her chair. "I do not owe you a thing. I am here to meet my mother. You don't have any ownership on me to ask me to be obedient to you." She tilted her head and with a poker face added, "I believe you wanted to say 'insolence' instead of 'disobedience'. She plucked a cherry from the bunch in the bowl on the food tray and popped it in her mouth. She crunched it, letting the juice splash out.

Lord Krail was so angry with her behavior that he strode out of the room. Just before he closed the door, he warned Kinshra, "I want you to only teach her Yunabi and not speak anything else!" He glanced at Tania and she blew a strand of golden hair from her face in defiance. Stunned, his eyes became wide, but the next moment he whirled, closed the door loudly and then descended the stairs of the tower with vengeance. His granddaughter was the most arrogant teenager he had ever seen. She was the opposite of submission. Eltanin had really spoiled her. Because he was sure that as a slave, she would have been more submissive. But there was not a submissive bone in her body. It was like his girl version.

As soon as the doors closed, Kinshra sucked in a sharp breath and placed her hand on her heart. "You are very brave, Lusitania!" she said, sinking back on the sofa. "I could never imagine speaking like that to my father!"

Tania shrugged. "Well, he started. He should have been careful. Did he think that every woman is going to submit to his humiliation?"

Kinshra let out a small laughter as she shook her head. "Should we start with Yunabi?" Even though there was so much tension in the air, Kinshra enjoyed every part of the conversation between her daughter and her father.

"Yes!" Tania said excitedly.

Kinshra wrapped her arms around her daughter's shoulders and took her inside. They crossed a small corridor that rounded around the balcony and then entered a smaller room. It was devoid of any furniture except a table that was set over the stony floor. Tania placed the Yunabi arcana on the table, her wings stirring in anticipation. Kinshra opened the arcana and Tania showed as to where they last left it. More than half the book needed to be covered.

"This is a lot, Lusitania," said Kinshra. "The magic in Yunabi is not friendly," said Kinshra as she read the text. "I would rather suggest that you bring forward your natural magic rather than relying on it."

Tania's lips curled down. Her shoulders sagged. "I would love to do that, but unless I have this magic inside me, how are we going to defeat Felis?"

Kinshra furrowed her brows. "Who is Felis?" She didn't like the sound of it. "Are you talking about the Hydra King?"

Tania nodded as she leaned over the edge of the table, looking defeated. She narrated the whole thing to Kinshra as Kinshra paced the room.

"Gods above!" Kinshra rasped. She glanced at Yunabi and then flipped through the pages. "This magic is not friendly, but I know all of it. The thing is that I do feel that you have it in you. What I am going to try and do is help you awaken your magic."

Tania was impressed by her mother. "You can do that?"

"I think I can," said Kinshra. She walked behind Tania and held her arms. She pulled them up and joined her palms. As she did that, she whispered an incantation. Soft halo appeared on her fingertips that traveled to Tania and coated her. "Close your eyes and open all your channels. I want you to receive whatever I am giving you."

"And what are you giving me?" Tania asked inquisitively.

Kinshra laughed softly. "You will feel it. Just close your eyes."

Like an obedient child, she closed her eyes. Excited as hell, she waited for her mother to do whatever she was intending to do. All of a sudden, she felt her skin tingling. Something inside her stirred. It was as if it unclasped itself from her blood and answered the call.

"Uzmi sven!" Kinshra chanted. "Repeat after me Lusitania! "Uzmi sven!"

"Uzmi sven!" she breathed. And the moment she did it, she felt as if she had become a well which was being filled by exhilarating energy. Her body felt heated, but she loved all the power that she was receiving. 'More...' that thing inside her hissed. 'More...'

"Napoyan Manjyrya!" Kinshra's incantations became louder. "Repeat after me, Lusitania!" she forced her.

"Napoyan Manjyrya!" Tania chanted and she felt like she was pushed into the core of the sun.

"Do not open your eyes, Lusitania!" Kinshra ordered.

Tania felt as if her feet had left the ground and that she was levitating. Couldn't be. She could feel her mother's hands on her arms and the soft touch of her feathers.

Kinshra chanted more incantations and Tania repeated them. Suddenly, she slapped her palms on hers and Tania opened her eyes. A shriek worked up her throat.